Many individuals enjoy expressing themselves through their clothing and through non-clothing adornment. This ornamentation can be located many different places and can take various different forms. For instance, ornamentation can be placed upon a shirt, trousers, or a hat. Also, such ornamentation can be provided directly upon the individual's body, such as through tattoos (both temporary and permanent) the decoration of fingernails and toenails, and through an almost limitless variety of different wearable and directly applyable expressive elements.
The expression can be subtle or explicit. For instance, a subtle form of expression can occur merely through the selection of patterns and colors to be provided on the clothing or directly applied to the body. More explicit expression can occur through utilization of commonly recognized symbols or the writing of words. For instance, t-shirts are often adorned with written messages or symbols which can be recognized by others and thus convey a message. Similar explicit symbols or words can be otherwise worn by an individual, such as through utilization of tattooing methods, nail finishing, etc.
Many individuals desire to be highly expressive but dislike the permanence associated with printing on clothing with a single message or permanently applying a tattoo. Such individuals may wish to be expressive in different ways, such as by conveying different messages through different words or different symbols at different times. Such individuals might also desire to at times express little or no message, or only provide a subtle decoration, rather than an explicit message. With the permanence of printed material on clothing, or tattoos, such an individual has less flexibility, or is required to maintain a large wardrobe for all of the different expression that the individual may wish to display. Accordingly, a need exists for wearable expression which can be readily modified to match the expression desired for the individual.
Many individuals enjoy wearing unique footwear as a form of expression. By wearing such unique footwear, a form of non-verbal expression is afforded to the individual. Surveys often report the large numbers of pairs of shoes owned by individuals, and particularly women. Purchase, storage and maintenance of such a large inventory of shoes creates its own set of problems.
In at least one prior art instance, the ability to convey some form of customized message has been combined with footwear, such as in the Spitzer-Cohn decoratable shoe which is the subject of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2005/0022431. This decoratable shoe has a chalkboard marking surface on side portions of the shoe so that a user can write with chalk directly upon this side surface of the shoe.
While such a decoratable shoe generally allows an individual to provide a customized message or other expression directly on the shoe, this decoratable shoe is not entirely satisfactory in achieving all of the above outlined purposes. In particular, the Spitzer-Cohn decoratable shoe does not provide any convenient location for storage of the chalk. One would thus typically be only able to modify the decoratable shoe at a location where chalk is available. Often an individual has time where the individual is waiting for some other activity to begin and the individual is free to apply some expressive element visually on the shoe. If the shoe could provide a container for such a writing implement, the user would be able at any time to modify the shoe as desired.
Furthermore, chalk and a chalkboard surface are not entirely satisfactory. When water is encountered, the chalk readily washes off. Chalk is typically somewhat muted in appearance, making it difficult to read any words or other symbols clearly unless a relatively large amount of space is provided. Furthermore, the best chalk writing surfaces are rather rigid, and are less compatible with shoe construction. Thus, compromise must be made either in utilizing more rigid materials than desired in constructing the shoe or in materials which are less able to hold the chalk and provide high contrast for good visibility when messages or other expression are applied with chalk.
Accordingly, a need exists for a shoe with a writing surface that can provide a clear high contrast message or other expression, and which can also contain a writing implement within the shoe for convenient storage and ready availability when an individual wishes to modify the appearance of the shoe.